


Of Moons and Magicians

by MayCeaseToBe



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sailor Moon, Gen, M/M, Sailor Moon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:26:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2855813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayCeaseToBe/pseuds/MayCeaseToBe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur really didn't see the whole moon guardian thing coming.</p><p>He didn't see the talking cat thing coming either, and yet there he was, laying on his bed in power ranger boxers, getting the lecture of his life from an old tortoiseshell stray that had a crescent moon bald spot on its head.</p><p>(Sailor Moon/AlphaOmega AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Moons and Magicians

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the Merlin Arts Fest 2014. I've been wanting to write more, but I haven't found the time. I still might, though, because this was a lot of fun to write. =)
> 
> Additional notes: Arthur is 16 and Merlin is 19.

Arthur really didn't see the whole moon guardian thing coming.

He didn't see the talking cat thing coming either, and yet there he was, laying on his bed in power ranger boxers, getting the lecture of his life from an old tortoiseshell stray that had a crescent moon bald spot on its head.

“You're a knight of the ancient Moon Kingdom, Arthur. It is your destiny to protect the people of Earth from evil and to protect the royal prince from harm.”

Arthur, for his part, was pretending to be asleep.

_“YOU AREN'T DREAMING, STUPID BOY. WAKE UP.”_

Arthur cracked open one blue eye to glare at the cat. “You've got the wrong guy, Killer.”

“Kil _garrah_.”

“Whatever. I can't be a hero. Omegas aren't fighters or leaders. They're pacifists and homemakers.” Arthur closed his eyes again and threw an arm over his face to block the light.

“But you aren't like other omegas,” Kilgarrah said with too much knowing. “There's a little too much fight in you. Too much hope. Too much resistance to the way things are. Am I getting warm?”

Arthur lifted his arm and glared suspiciously. It was true. He wasn't the obedient omega boy that society expected him to be. He tried. He really did. But while Arthur did want family and marriage and the whole domestic getup, he also didn't want to be shoved to the side. He wanted a partnership, a job, to be someone worth looking up to and someone people listened to. He couldn't do that if he was stuck in the ridiculous role of bowing his head and following orders and staying at home like a servant.

Kilgarrah's eyes narrowed and he started to purr. “Yes, I thought so. Try this on for size.”

Something landed with a soft  _thump_ on Arthur's chest, and he looked down to find a gold pocket watch with a long chain resting on his shirt. He picked it up and ran his thumb over the front engraving of a crescent moon curled around a star. He pressed the button on top to open it, but the lid didn't budge.

“It won't open that way,” Kilgarrah said, his tail swishing happily. “You'll have to stand up and say 'moon prism power' to activate the crystal within.”

Arthur stared at him blankly. “You're serious.”

Kilgarrah purred loudly.

“Alright.” Arthur sighed and slid out of bed. He held out the watch in his palm lamely. “Moon prism power?”

The watch snapped open and a bright light surrounded Arthur as his clothes transformed. It was over in the blink of an eye, but his entire outfit had changed into that of a knight, complete with shining silver and gold armor, a helmet, a billowing white cape, and a sword attached to his hip. The watch had embedded itself into the chest plate of the armor, and when Arthur moved to stare at himself in his window reflection, the piece seemed to gleam proudly.

Kilgarrah moved to the edge of the bed and surveyed him keenly. “You are the White Knight of the Moon Kingdom, a guardian of the moon and Earth.”

“On the off chance that I'm not going through a psychotic break,” Arthur said weakly, one hand touching the hilt of his sword, “this is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.”

“We'll have to work on your faith,” Kilgarrah growled.

And then, because of course it did, Arthur's helmet started flashing, and a small, panicked voice rang in his ears. ' _Oh god, help me! Somebody help me!'_

“What the fuck?” Arthur tried to cover his ears, but he only rattled the helmet instead.

“The dark energy is attacking!” Kilgarrah sprinted to Arthur's open bedroom window and glanced back at him pointedly. “I can help you sense their location. Are you ready, young knight?”

 _Attacking. Screams. Fighting._  A shiver of fear shot through Arthur's spine.

He took a step back from the window. “Do I have a choice?”

Kilgarrah growled impatiently. “Of course. We all have a choice. But are you willing to let someone suffer because you are afraid?”

The answer was surprisingly easy.

So that's how Arthur ended up in a jewelry store at three in the morning, deftly fighting off a thing that kind of looked like a woman/serpent hybrid having a bad hair day, and if anyone asked him later what he did that night, he would say he totally rocked his amazing supernatural sword, and he absolutely did  _not_  drop it and scream so loudly in terror that all the windows in the building shattered.

No matter what Kilgarrah said,  _it never happened, okay?_

What did happen, though, was that a robed magician swooped in out of nowhere while Arthur was  ~~screaming~~  occupied and held the monster at bay with ropes made of light. He gently told Arthur to  ~~stop screaming like a little girl and~~  use his sword to kill the monster. His face was hidden by the wrap of his heavy blue robes, and his smell was masked, but his voice was low and caring. Arthur fell in love pretty much instantly.

Afterward, when the monster blew up into ashes and sparks of light, and the real owner of the store woke up and started crying in thanks on Arthur's armor, the robed magician quietly disappeared back into the shadows, the only trace of him left being a single white rose that fluttered down into the palm of Arthur's hand, quiet and gentle, like a promise whispered in the night.

Arthur fell asleep that night with Kilgarrah purring at his back and the rose tucked securely under his nose, completely convinced that he just had the most amazing dream.

Except, well, he kind of ended up all over the newspaper the next day.

The most surreal moment of his life was easily the second he sat down at the kitchen table and realized his father was reading an article about a vigilante called The White Knight that was really Arthur running around in a suit of armor.

“Looks like that Green Knight fellow has a friend,” Uther grumbled, flipping the page with more force than necessary.

The Green Knight was a popular vigilante who often went around catching burglars and saving women from attackers. The police (and Uther) thought he was a nuisance to the law, but Arthur and everyone else thought he was cool and admirable. There were Green Knight toys, now, and Green Knight video games at the arcade. Arthur was pretty chuffed to be compared to him, to be honest.

But Uther, apparently, was less than impressed. “Those idiots need to mind their own damn business."

“But if they're helping people -”

“ - without proper training and investigation, they're endangering themselves and those who they're trying to help. We've been through this, Arthur.”

Uther folded the newspaper down to glare at his son. The detective's badge gleaming on his suit mocked Arthur better than his father's withering stare ever could. They'd had this type of argument so many times that Arthur knew he wouldn't win. Uther knew best. Father knew best. Law knew best.

Arthur looked down at his toast and murmured, “Sorry, sir.”

Uther sighed, put his paper on the table, and stood to leave. “At least I don't have to worry about  _you_ running around like that. Omegas couldn't stir up that much trouble even if they tried.”

Arthur supposed, if he were any other parent, that would have come out as a compliment. But since Uther was his father, a man who'd always wanted a strong alpha son, Arthur took it for the insult that it really was. He could be the model omega or the most rebellious omega known to man and Uther would still be disappointed.

Uther left for work without a goodbye. Arthur didn't expect anything less.

By the time Arthur was showered and ready for school, he was running late again. At this point his homeroom teacher had him marked 'tardy' before the bell even rang, so Arthur wasn't really too concerned about that. He was more worried about catching the train on time and maybe, mostly, worried about running into a certain someone who drove him more than a bit crazy.

And by 'running into' he meant literally.

As the train doors closed, Arthur slipped in-between and bumped into the back of a blue-beanie-wearing uni student, successfully knocking the man's coffee to spill down his front. “Damnit, Arthur!”

“It's touching that you know it's me.”

“No one else in the entire city is that much of an  _ass_.”

The man couldn't turn around because the train was so cramped, but he turned his head as far as he could to glare in Arthur's direction. Arthur felt guilt and excitement stir in him at the attention.

Merlin the large-eared wonder was unlike any other alpha that Arthur had ever met. He wasn't big or muscley or intimidating. He wasn't rude or judgmental. He just...was. He was Merlin. He was tall and lithe and gentle and caring (to everyone but Arthur, who was apparently a nuisance to society). He had a commanding presence that Arthur couldn't explain, and he hated Arthur with the passion of a thousand suns.

And Arthur hated him right back.

Sort of.

Arthur hated Merlin but he liked Merlin but he  _hated_  Merlin. He tried explaining this to his friend Gwen once (the only omega friend he had), and she said that he really did like Merlin, but he was just annoyed that Merlin didn't like him back because  _everybody_  liked Arthur. She said it a bit snidely, though, so he didn't take her advice to heart (though after some retrospection, he found that it was actually kind of true).

So Arthur was a bit head over heels for a man he wanted to punch in the face.

It was complicated.

He stayed pressed to Merlin's back (as he did every day while Merlin whispered threats about keeping hands to himself) until the train made its first stop. Then while people were filing in and out, Merlin shuffled to the side and kicked Arthur in the shin.

“Ah! Where's your protective instincts?!”

“Reserved for omegas who aren't little brats.”

“I'm not a brat!”

“Oh, excuse me,  _spoiled child_.”

“And I'm not a child!”

Merlin made a show of sniffing in Arthur's direction. “You smell like one to me.”

Arthur clenched his jaw and turned his head away. At sixteen, Arthur was one of the few omegas left in his grade who hadn't gone into heat, and the other two kids didn't really count because everyone knew they were just too underweight for it to kick in yet. It happened sometimes with the skinny ones. Nobody could explain about Arthur, though, and recently the other students had taken to calling him out on his late bloomer status for fun.

Arthur didn't talk to Merlin until the train made its second stop and both of them stepped out with the crowd. Merlin sidled up next to Arthur, his brown messenger bag flopping between them. He nudged their shoulders together.

“Hey, chin up. It's not so bad being a kid.”

Arthur huffed. “It is when you're the only one left in your grade.”

They emerged out of the station and on to the bustling sidewalk. Merlin pulled Arthur to the side by his elbow, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Think of it this way. You get to enjoy life normally while your classmates have to be holed up three times a year, each time spending a week in complete agony because fucking themselves on plastic dildos isn't enough and they aren't old enough to mate yet. You, my friend, are getting off easy.”

Arthur's brain stuttered to a stop. “I'm sorry, did you just say dildos?”

Merlin sighed and rolled his eyes to the heavens. “ _Child_.”

Arthur laughed.

“Fine. I'll enjoy my sexless, uncomplicated childhood. Better?”

“Much.” Merlin grinned and sipped at his mostly-destroyed coffee. His eyes flicked to the ground. “Did you know you have a cat following you?”

“What?” Arthur looked down, and sure enough, Kilgarrah was sitting patiently at his heels.

Merlin smirked. “You didn't know? Seriously? He's been behind you this entire time.”

Arthur picked Kilgarrah up so he could glare into the cat's eyes. “Why are you  _following me_?!”

Merlin's eyebrows raised. “You do realize that cats can't talk?”

Arthur very nearly replied with  _this one can_  but Kilgarrah's claws sinking into his skin stopped him.

“He's been following me since yesterday. He has to have  _some_ sort of reason.”

Merlin reached out a finger to gently rub the moon spot on Kilgarrah's head. The cat purred appreciatively. “You should name him.”

Arthur grinned meanly. “I already have. Killer.”

Kilgarrah growled.

“Yes. I see he likes that very much.”

Somewhere in the city, a clock tower chimed.

Arthur gasped in shock and Kilgarrah hit the ground with a  _MEROW_.

“Shit, shit! I've got to go. Bye!” Arthur broke into a sprint, his heart hammering at the thought of being late for first class.

Merlin's laughter followed him down the street.

Later, after Arthur was settled into class (late, of course) with mysterious scratch marks on his ankles, it occurred to him that the earlier conversation was the longest he and Merlin ever had.

He couldn't stop thinking about it all day.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

“Maybe you're just made to be a homemaker.”

A week after becoming a supernatural vigilante, Arthur stared down at his meager test score with morose resignment.. He didn't lack the intelligence for school; he just found it all so  _unnecessary_. He could be out having fun, enjoying life, sleeping even, and instead he was stuck all day in a prison learning things he was just going to forget. What was the point?

“I'm not a homemaker,” Arthur replied bitterly. “I'm not one of those omegas.”

Leon, Arthur's best alpha friend since forever, shook his head of unfairly gorgeous ginger curls sadly. “I know you don't want to be one now, because of your Dad and all, but I've known you long enough to know that you would be perfectly happy being a swooning homemaker omega.”

Arthur put his head on his desk and pouted. It was completely true. He had the classic omega urges of starting a family and raising kids and having a loving alpha mate to care of him, but - “But I want to be important, too.”

Leon ruffled Arthur's hair. “Who says you can't be both?”

 _Society_ , Arthur thought bitterly. Omegas were always cast to the side, their thoughts never heard and opinions never taken seriously. He thought making a difference in the world was a pipe dream until the whole White Knight business started last week. Now it was all Arthur could think about. He had the power to help people and make them listen. He just didn't know what to do with it yet.

“Well, if it helps any, there's an alpha kid who just transferred into Ms. Helen's class who gets perfect grades in basically everything. He's a bit quiet, but he might tutor you... if you can learn to ask nicely.”

“I always ask nicely,” Arthur grumbled.

Leon chuckled. “You never ask at all.”

And, well, that may have been a bit true. Growing up with a single alpha father meant that Arthur grew up learning to command instead of plead. He honestly didn't even know the meaning of the words 'please' and 'sorry' until he started school, and his teachers were appalled that such a ballsy omega even existed.

He really was going to ask the new kid nicely. Really. Seriously.

Except Lance was kind of the definition of nerd-who-studies-too-hard, and Arthur may or may not have gotten carried away in getting to know Lance and then pitying Lance a little and  _he couldn't just ask the man for tutoring._  What if he thought Arthur only wanted to be friends for a better grade? That wasn't acceptable. Arthur could ask him later. Lance needed to be introduced to arcade games ASAP.

And damn, the boy was good at games.

“You're sure you've never played this before?”

Arthur stared in utter amazement as Lance's high score crept higher and higher. The Green Knight game wasn't known for being easy, and sure enough Lance had died quickly the first two tries. On the third try, however, he never really stopped.

Arthur frankly didn't even know the game went on this long.

“Nope. Not allowed games.”

Lance, for his part, was intensely (almost scarily) focused. The more he played, the more he got this maniac gleam in his eyes that looked like hope set on fire.

Arthur was certain that he'd never had that much determination toward anything in his entire life.

And this was Lance  _playing._

Arthur had his work cut out for him.

It was almost an hour before Lance quit. Yes, quit. Because he had advanced tutoring and couldn't be bothered to finish. Arthur got enough arcade tickets from it to get himself a giant stuffed bear.

“Thanks, Arthur. This was fun.”

Arthur didn't want to believe him, but Lance was smiling serenely.

“No problem. Any time you want to do anything unproductive, I'm your guy.”

“I don't know about unproductive.”

Lance nodded at the bear in Arthur's arms, and Arthur just barely prevented himself from smiling like a love-struck sap.

Lance, to put it simply, was hot. Not the  _drop dead so he'll notice you_  kind of hot, but in the double-take,  _hello cutie yes I have arrived please glance at me_  kind of handsome. He was lean but not skinny. His dark hair was lusciously long and wavy but not unkempt. His skin was an unblemished, natural golden tan that Arthur couldn't believe was real.

The only problem was that Lance didn't glance anybody's way. Lance glanced at his textbooks and index cards.

Arthur was going to fix that.

But not for himself, obviously.

Because Arthur was an idiot for a guy on a train.

“Well, anytime you'd like to accidentally win me things, then.” Arthur smirked and waved the bear's arm at Lance, who laughed.

“Sure. See you later, Arthur.” Lance smiled and waved, and then he was off.

Arthur watched him go with a fond smile.

“ _There is a bad energy around him.”_

Arthur jolted and glared down at Kilgarrah, who was sitting at his feet.

“Where do you  _come from_?”

Kilgarrah stared up at him, unperturbed. “I told you that I will always be watching, Arthur. Energy sources of all kinds will be attracted to your presence now that you have been awakened.”

“All kinds. So Lance could be good? He could be a knight?” Arthur squeezed the bear in excitement.

“Unlikely. Something about him feels...off.”

“Something about  _you_  feels off.”

“A very wise and astute comment, young knight.”

“Sarcastic little shit.”

“HEY, ARTHUR!” Will, the pimply arcade worker, jogged out of the building holding a USB drive between his fingers. “Your date left this in there. You know I think he has the highest score in the country?”

Arthur straightened. “He wasn't my date!”

Will glanced at the bear in Arthur's grip. “Uh-huh.”

“Whatever,” Arthur huffed. He snatched the USB out of Will's hand. “I'll give it to him later.”

“Tell him he can come by any time to finish the game. I'll let him play for free if he can do it.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and walked away.

“I'm serious, Arthur!”

Arthur waved and kept walking.

When he got home, his father wasn't there. That happened a lot when his father got an interesting case, so Arthur wasn't worried. He was actually relieved because that meant his terrible test could stay hidden at the bottom of his backpack for a little longer. Eventually it would have to get signed, but for now...

Well, for now he was getting harassed by Kilgarrah because apparently Lance really was an evil mastermind.

“You need to be more alert!” Kilgarrah hissed. “What if he had a moment alone with you? You could have been captured by the enemy!”

Arthur stared dumbly at his computer screen. After he'd put the USB drive in, the screen had started to scroll furiously with text that Arthur couldn't understand (but apparently Kilgarrah could, because he was pissed).

“This isn't going to hurt my computer, is it?”

“Focus, boy! We need to plan our attack!”

“Attack? Lance? No.”

“Arthur, your duty is-”

“I don't care.” Arthur yanked the USB out of his computer and rolled it between his fingers. The logo of Lance's tutoring building was etched into the handle.

“This was probably written by the company, not Lance. I'll drop by there tomorrow and give it to him, okay? That way we can check on them both at once.”

Kilgarrah flicked his tail unhappily. “If you think that is wise...”

“I do.” Arthur looked back at his screen and frowned. “Why is it frozen like that?”

“You did not eject the USB safely.”

“Can you fix it?”

Kilgarrah narrowed his eyes and purred. “Perhaps if you feed me a can of tuna...”

“But we don't have any tuna!”

“Pity.”

If anyone thought it was strange that Arthur went to the store in his pajamas for only one can of tuna, they didn't mention it.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

He and Lance didn't have any classes in common, so they didn't run into each other at all the next day. Arthur had to wait for the final bell to ring, and then he dragged his feet all the way to the Jaded Tutoring building. He couldn't get there too quickly because Lance needed to be there first. He arrived with Kilgarrah in tow (because the cat was waiting outside the school for him all day like some sort of creepy little gargoyle), and even Arthur had to admit that the building felt sinister. He stopped himself outside the front door and hesitated. Kilgarrah growled.

“Need tutoring?”

Arthur jumped and turned around. Merlin was standing next to him on the sidewalk with an amused grin on his face. For once his head was beanie-less, and Arthur may or may not have stared a bit dumbly at Merlin's short black curls.

“What?”

Merlin chuckled. “I can't see how they could help you. It's a pretty hopeless cause, if you ask me.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “No one  _did_  ask you. And what are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?”

Merlin raised his eyebrows. “I can't just be walking by?”

“Not if it's you. No.”

Merlin pointed down the street.

“I'm visiting a friend down the block. How do I know you aren't the stalker here?”

Arthur held up the USB.

“I'm giving my friend his study guide back.”

“Friend. Right.”

Merlin leaned in with a serious expression, bringing his face so close that Arthur could see the different shades of blue in his eyes. “The first step is admitting that you have a problem.”

Arthur shoved Merlin's chest weakly, and the alpha backed away with a grin.

“Fuck off, Merlin.”

“Gladly,” Merlin said. He turned to walk away, but not before yelling, “ _Beware the tutors, Arthur!_ ”

Arthur huffed and turned back toward the door, throwing it open with more gusto than he felt. Kilgarrah quickly followed him inside.

“That boy likes you,” Kilgarrah said matter-of factly, his eyes studying the empty reception hall with suspicion.

“Oh,” Arthur said, unimpressed. “Is that why he's such a dick all the time?”

“The expression 'pulling pigtails' comes to mind,” Kilgarrah answered. He trotted over to the elevator and waited for Arthur to come push the button. “And you are not a bed of roses yourself.”

Arthur pouted and pushed the elevator button. Nothing happened. He pushed it again. Nothing.

He frowned. “The elevator's broken.”

“And there is no one at the reception desk,” Kilgarrah said. “Odd.”

“Really? I was thinking creepy.”

Arthur walked over to the staircase door and shoved so hard that the door smacked against the wall on the other side. Now sure that there wasn't anyone behind it, Arthur stepped through and started up the staircase.

Kilgarrah watched his overreaction with a well-practiced bland stare before following at his heels.

The fifth floor was for tutoring kids in Arthur's grade, so that was where they stopped to check for Lance. However, instead of a bustling tutoring office, they found tables and hallways filled with unconscious students and teachers.

Arthur tiptoed over the bodies carefully, looking for one that might be Lance, but then a loud scream echoed from a closed door across the room.

He froze.

Kilgarrah swiped at his ankle. “What are you waiting for, boy? Transform!”

Arthur fumbled with the watch in his pocket, his heart going double-time with nerves. He was sure that superheros weren't supposed to get scared or fuck up, but there he was, doing all of the above.

“Moon prism power!”

He transformed in a flash and then took the door down with a charge. Inside the tiny back room was Lance, and he was being held prisoner by a large red monster that looked like satan in a hooker dress. The monster was holding Lance's head in front of a computer screen, trying to make him watch the quickly scrolling text, but Lance had his eyes firmly shut. A symbol was starting to glow on his forehead, but Arthur wasn't sure what it could mean.

“I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?”

The monster turned its beady black eyes on Arthur, and it was all one big clusterfuck from there.

The monster had a thing for riddles, and the unconscious bodies turned into molesting zombies, and somewhere along the way Lance turned into a blue Knight who could spray a freezing, dense, sight-impairing fog. At that point Arthur was pretty much over getting surprises, so he just went with it and offed the monster while he could.

He and Lance got ice cream afterwards.

“So what  _are_  the evil things we're protecting people from?”

Lance was walking Arthur to the train station, partly to be nice and partly because he had a thousand questions that Arthur had never thought to ask, himself.

Arthur texted his dad, letting him know he was on his way home, while Kilgarrah answered.

“Well, I don't... I don't really know.”

“What?!” Arthur stopped, staring appalled at Kilgarrah. “I thought they were enemies of the moon kingdom or something.”

Kilgarrah trotted along calmly. “They are. But there is more to the story.”

They waited.

He didn't continue.

“And?” Lance prompted.

“And I don't remember the rest. All of this happened in a past life,  _your_  past life. Our memories of it will be locked away until we can find the moon prince and the power of the silver crystal.”

“Well that's stupid,” Arthur said. He turned off the sidewalk and started down the stairs to the underground. “What if we never find him?”

Kilgarrah glanced up at him primly. “Then we continue on to the best of our ability.”

“Sure.” Arthur sighed. We was getting tired of the whole superhero thing already.

As they came up to the turnstiles, Arthur spotted the familiar lanky figure of Merlin just ahead, but he didn't call out to him. Some irrational part of Arthur didn't want Merlin to see with with another alpha and get the wrong idea. Or worse, get the right idea and tease him about it.

“ _ARTHUR PENDRAGON!”_

Arthur sank into submission so fast that he wasn't quite sure what happened until he was already on the floor. At the sound of his father's bark, Arthur had immediately slammed to his knees, head tilted to the side, gaze down, arms glued to his side and palms facing up. It was a reaction learnt from years of getting on his father's bad side, doing anything from coloring on the walls when he was five to accidentally insulting his father's boss last year. Uther always liked to make up for Arthur's shortcomings by showing off how well he submitted. And he was doing it now, in front of everyone at the train station, in front of Lance, in front of  _Merlin_ , who was now looking back at Arthur with a confused, wild-eyed stare.

To top it off, a few boys passing by catcalled jeeringly.

This was completely embarrassing.

A large, rough hand grabbed Arthur by the back of the neck and hauled him to his feet. Arthur whimpered and screwed his eyes shut. His arms curled in toward his chest and his knees shivered with the need to curl into a fetal position. Uther jerked him once.

“Look at me!” Arthur wrenched open his eyes and stared at Uther's uniform-clad chest. Not his eyes. Never his eyes. “Your teacher called me today wondering why I haven't signed off on your failed test. _Which. test?_ ”

“Ba-backpack!”

Uther wrenched Arthur's backpack off him and roughly unzipped the pocket to dig out his test. The paper crinkled in his hand when he found it, the circled red  _30_  sticking out like a neon sign of doom.

Uther shoved the backpack and paper into Arthur's chest. “You know better than to keep things from me. When you get home, you're going to put your phone and computer on my desk, and you will not leave your room until morning. Do you understand?”

Arthur nodded.

“Excuse me, sir,” Lance said. He kept his distance and tilted his head slightly to show his wasn't a threat, but Uther looked about ready to growl at him anyway.

“Who are you? Another of Arthur's useless  _friends_?”

“Actually, sir, I'm a tutor at the school. Arthur was just asking if I could help him with his test revision tomorrow.”

Uther glared suspiciously, but he nodded in approval. “Good. Your name, boy?”

“Lancelot Du'lac.”

“I'll be checking up on you. And  _you_ ,” Uther turned to Arthur again, who flinched. “I want that test to be on my desk when I get home. If I see another low grade out of you, there will be punishment.”

Arthur believed it.

Uther marched away to finish his patrol shift, and Lance stood by silently while Athur got his backpack in order again.

“Why didn't you ask me for help?” Lance asked quietly.

“I didn't – I didn't want you to think -” Arthur's brain was stuck on  _threat_  and his body still tremoring with fear, so sentences weren't really his strong suit just then.

Lance, the smart cookie, got it anyway. He smiled at Arthur fondly.

“It's alright. I'll meet you after school tomorrow. In front of the flag pole, okay?”

Arthur nodded. Lance waved and left.

Arthur made his way through the turnstile and toward the train doors with his head down. He didn't notice Merlin walking beside him until they were already on the train, both holding onto the same pole to steady themselves. Arthur glanced at Merlin's face then back down to the floor. The train started to move.

“So I see you  _are_  trained in submission,” Merlin said.

“Yeah? You liked it?” Arthur spat the words out accusingly, the hurt in his tone causing his voice to crack. He already guessed the answer. All alphas got off on seeing omegas submit, especially tough ones likes Arthur.

Merlin didn't smile. His voice was so soft that Arthur barely heard it over the train.

“It didn't suit you.”

Arthur clenched his jaw. He didn't have an opinion on whether it suited him or not. It was what he was supposed to do. It was what he was born to do. And yet he was also born to be the White Knight. Lately he wasn't sure who he was more comfortable being – the leader or the follower? Why couldn't he be both? Why only the two extremes?

Merlin ducked his head down to catch Arthur's eye. “Your dad, did he raise you by himself?”

Arthur shrugged. “Yeah.”

Merlin smirked. “What a pair we make – you raised by a single alpha father and me raised by a single omega mother.”

Arthur's head snapped up. His eyes widened. “Really? No wonder you're so...”

“So what?”

_Gentle. Kind. Funny. Cute._

“...not repulsive.”

Merlin chuckled. “Gee. Thanks.”

The train stopped. People shuffled in and out. It started up again.

“Arthur, your dad doesn't -”

“No.” Arthur got that question a lot, and he knew when it was coming. Everyone always assumed that Uther's quick temper meant that he liked to take it out on Arthur, and to an extent that was true. But he never hit Arthur. Not once. “I know what you're going to ask, and no, he doesn't.”

But that didn't make him a loving parent, either.

Merlin seemed to relax against the pole. “Good.”

The train stopped again and Arthur started to shuffle out.

“Arthur, wait.” Merlin's hand on his elbow stopped him and turned him around. He grabbed Arthur's hand and pressed something soft into his palm. “Don't let him get to you.”

The doors started to close. Arthur nodded at Merlin and shuffled out quickly. Only as the train was pulling away again did he look at his palm and realize what Merlin had given him.

A perfect white rose.


End file.
